Bridge for stringed instruments



Dec. 16, 1969 M. TANSKY 3,483|785 BRIDGE FOR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS Filed Jan. 4, 1968 INV ENTOR MICHAEL TANSKY Patented Dec. 16, 1969 3,483,785 BRIDGE FOR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS Michael Tansky, 541 Olive Ave., Long Beach. Calif. 90812 Filed Jan. 4, 1968, Ser. No. 695,697 Int. CI. (21041 3/04 US. Cl. 84-307 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hollow violin bridge with four string-receiving notches along its upper edge and a wire extending from each notch to metal shoes disposed between each mounting foot of the bridge and the belly of the violin.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to bridges for stringed musical instruments and more specifically to a hollow bridge adapted for supporting a series of strings above the belly of the instrument with a series of short wire elements providing a vibration-transmitting connection between the string-supporting notches of the bridge and the belly of the instrument.

Description of the prior art An important factor in the tonal quality of stringed instruments, such as the violin is related to the construction of the string-supporting bridge mounted on the violin belly for transmitting the vibrations of the strings to the body of the instrument. To improve the quality of such instruments, a study of the prior art shows bridges that have been formed into a variety of configurations. Some have a series of sound holes formed into various patterns, others have a series of internal cavities formed into various arrangements, and still others'have a partially hollow body.

SUMMARY The preferred embodiment of the present invention constitutes a bridge for a violin having a single, substantially enclosed cavity forming the major part of its internal volume. The bridge has four string-supporting surface notches in its upper edge and a pair of laterally spaced feet forming part of its lower edge. The internal cavity extends through the base of the feet and terminates at a metal shoe disposed between each foot and the belly of the instrument. A metal wire element extends from each string-supporting notch, through the hollow interior of the body and the feet to one of the metal shoes. Half of the wires are joined to one of the shoes and the remainder of the wires are joined to the other shoe. Thus the wires provide a connection between each string and the belly of the instrument. The acoustic resonance of the instrument supporting the preferred bridge is also improved by a pair of sound horns mounted on one wall of the bridge.

A second embodiment of the invention constitutes a violin bridge formed of a pair of wall sections joined together at their perimeters to define a single, internal cavity occupying the major part of the volume of the bridge. The internal cavity is completely closed with the exception of a hollow extension from the cavity through each of a pair of supporting feet. When the bridge is mounted on a violin, the lower openings terminate at the belly of the instrument.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the tonal quality of stringed instruments by providing a novel string-supporting bridge. This and other objects and advantages of the invention will readily occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains upon reference to the following detailed description:

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The description refers to the accompanying drawing in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a violin incorporating a hollow bridge made in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the bridge of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the bridge of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view as seen along lines 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an elevational view of another embodiment of the invention; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along lines 66 of FIGURE 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Now referring to the drawing, a stringed instrument 10 is illustrated in FIGURE 1 as comprising a body section 12 having a belly 14 and a neck 16 supporting a peg box 18. Four strings 20 extending from the peg box 18 over the face of the belly 14 are attached to a tail piece 22. A preferred bridge 24 is mounted on the belly 14 of the instrument between the curves forming the waist of the body 12 and support the strings 20 above the belly 14.

Referring to FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, the bridge 24 is formed of a pair of wooden wall sections 26 and 28 joined together around their perimeters to define a substantially enclosed cavity 30 which constitutes a major portion of the volume of the bridge. The two wall sections 26 and 28 have four notches 32 formed along their upper joined edge for receiving the strings 20. The lower joined edge of the two wall sections terminates in a pair of laterally spaced supporting feet 38, each having a contour complementary to the curvature of the belly 14. A hollow section 36 extends from the cavity 30 through the base of each foot 34. Preferably wall section 26 is formed from maple and wall section 28 is formed from spruce.

A metal shoe 38 is mounted between the base of each foot 34- and the belly 14 of the instrument and closes off the hollow sections 36. A sensitive metal wire element 40 extends from each string-receiving notch 32 through the cavitv 30 and the hollow sections 36 to the metal shoes 38. Two of the wire elements 40 are joined together at one of the shoes 38 and the other two wire elements 40 are joined together at the other shoe.

Each of the wall sections has a central opening so that when joined together they form a central sound hole 42. The two wall sections are joined together around the entire boundary of the sound hole 42.

A pair of metal, frusto-conical, open-ended, resonating horn members 44 and 46 are mounted in a pair of openings 48 formed in the wall section 26. The horns 44 and 46 provide the only external openings with the hollow interior of the bridge when the bridge is mounted on the belly 14 of the violin.

Thus it is to be understood that the preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrated in FIGURES 1-4, comprises a hollow bridge 24 having a single internal cavity 30 constituting the greater portion of the volume of the bridge, with a sensitive wire element 40' connecting the supporting notch of each string and the metal shoes 38 mounted on the belly 14 of the violin. The sound horns 44 also contribute to the improved tonal quality of the instrument.

FIGURES 5 and 6 illustrate another preferred bridge 100 comprising a pair of wooden wall sections 102 and 104 joined at their perimeters to form a substantially closed internal cavity 106 in a manner similar to the bridge 24. The wall sections 102 and 104 have a series of notches 108 along their upper joined edges for receiving the strings of a violin. The lower edges of the two wall sections form a pair of laterally spaced feet 110, each having a contour complementary to the curvature of the violin belly. A pair of hollow sections 112 extend from the cavity 106 through the feet 110 and terminate at their contoured base. When the bridge 100 is mounted in an upright position on the belly of a violin, the hollow sections 112 are closed so that the internal cavity 106 in the bridge is completely enclosed. The completely enclosed cavity 106 provides a significant factor in the overall improved tonal characteristics of the stringed instrument incorporating the bridge 100*.

Each of the two Wall sections 102 and 104 has a central opening which are joined to form a central sound hole 114. The two wall sections are also joined along an internal rib 116 which extends from the sound hole 114 to the lower joined edge of the bridge. The wall sections 102 and 104 also have a pair of lateral C-shaped openings in their side edges.

This latter form of the invention illustrates a bridge having a single, completely enclosed, internal cavity which provides a significant improvement in the resonant qualities of the violin.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a stringed musical instrument having a belly and a plurality of strings extending over said belly, a bridge for supporting said strings comprising a pair of similarly shaped, wooden wall sections having confronting sides and being joined together around the perimeters of said sides to define an internal cavity, said wall sections forming a string-supporting structure along their upper edges and a pair of laterally spaced feet along their lower edges, said sides forming each foot with an interior passage connected at one end with said cavity and having the opposite lower end open, and means under tension extending from said supporting edge through the internal cavity to the bases of said feet.

2. A bridge as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said wall sections has a central opening, and an internal rib extending from the central opening to the lower edge of their respective confronting sides, and said wall sections are joined together around the edges of their central openings and along their internal ribs.

3. In a stringed musical instrument having a belly and a plurality of strings extending over said belly, a bridge for supporting said strings, comprising:

(a) a member having an internal cavity, a string-supporting edge and a pair of laterally spaced feet mounted on said belly;

(b) a wire associated with each of said strings extending from said string-supporting edge through said internal cavity to the base of said feet; and

(0) shoe means disposed between the base of said feet and the belly of said instrument, said shoe means being attached to the lower ends of said wires.

4. The invention as defined in claim 3, wherein half of said wires extend through one of said feet and are joined together at said shoe means and the remainder of said wires extends through the second of said feet and are joined together at said shoe means.

5. The invention as defined in claim 4, wherein said shoe means comprise a pair of metal plates each having a contour accommodating the curvature of said belly, one of said plates being mounted between one of said feet and said belly, and the second of said plates being mounted between the second of said feet and said belly.

6. The invention as defined in claim 3, wherein said member is formed of a pair of similarly shaped wall sections joined together around their perimeters to define a single internal cavity, said wall sections having a string-supporting structure along their upper joined edge and a pair of spaced feet along their lower joined edge, and each of said feet having a hollow section extending from said internal cavity to said shoe means.

7. The invention as defined in claim 6-, wherein one of said wall sections has an opening, and including a sound horn mounted in said opening.

8. The invention as defined in claim 7, wherein one of said wall sections is formed of spruce and the second of said wall sections is formed of maple.

9. The invention as defined in claim 7, wherein one of said wall sections is formed of maple and supports a pair of metal sound horns and the second of said wall sections is formed of spruce.

10. The invention as defined in claim 3, wherein said member is formed of a pair of similarly formed wooden wall sections joined together around their perimeters to define a single internal cavity, one of said wall sections being formed of maple and the second of said wall sections being formed of spruce, said wall sections having four notches in a string-supporting edge for receiving violin strings, and a hollow section extending from said cavity through said feet to said shoe means, and said shoe means comprise a pair of metal plates each having a curvature accommodating said belly and being disposed between each foot and said belly, and including a pair of metal resonating horns externally mounted on one of said wall sections.

11. In a stringed instrument having a belly and a plurality of strings extending over said belly, a bridge for supporting said strings comprising a pair of similarly shaped, wooden wall sections having confronting sides and being joined together around the perimeters of said sides to define an internal cavity, said wall sections forming a string supporting structure along their upper edges and a pair of feet along the lower edges contacting said belly and means transmitting sound from said strings through said instrument with some of said strings registering with one of said feet and other of said strings registering with the other of said feet, said last mentioned means comprising means under tension extending from said supporting edge through the internal cavity to the bases of said feet.

12. The bridge as defined in claim 11 and in which each of said feet have a hollow passage open at the upper end to said cavity and a lower open end closed by the belly of said stringed instrument and including means dividing said cavity into two sections, one section connecting a portion of said string supporting edge with one of said feet and the other section connecting another portion of said string supporting edge with the other of said feet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,459,057 6/ 1923 Jones 84309 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,552 2/1888 Great Britain. 332,655 2/1921 Germany.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner LAWRENCE R. FRANKLIN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 84-309 

